Why do nerds love East Asia so much?

[MGibster]

I think this sort of thing has a huge impact and it isn't just limited to nerds. There is a whole subculture in the US around kung fu movies that isn't nerd based at all. I think a lot of different things contributed to it.

And the Wu-Tang Clan makes up for like 30% of that Kung-Fu culture!

 

[MGibster]

Most importantly, we were often seeing something that reflected an essential aspect of ourselves back to us, but differently enough that we could accept it. It's the same reason that nerds love science fiction.

I think there's something to that. Apparently Chinese audiences love seeing western actors doing Chinese things. Cynthia Rothrock made a name for herself in Hong Kong action movies and the Chinese producers of The Great Wall wanted Matt Damon to star in it. In a way, it's kind of affirming to see a group of outsiders doing what you do. Of course they're doing Kung-Fu, because Chinese Kung-Fu is the superior fighting style.

 

[dragoner]

It's a two way street, Asians are fans of other's stuff also, some of my biggest fans are Japanese, and one of the best artists of Traveller is also Japanese:

Seeker by Magmagmag

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

There is a whole subculture in the US around kung fu movies that isn't nerd based at all.

I think the martial arts subculture in the US, especially the ones that take it very seriously, are definitely nerdy. But they're largely their own subculture with the outer trappings of being jocks, so that disguises it a bit, IMO.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I think the martial arts subculture in the US, especially the ones that take it very seriously, are definitely nerdy. But they're largely their own subculture with the outer trappings of being jocks, so that disguises it a bit, IMO.

I would still say the people I am talking about are not very nerdy. I get what you mean (I could probably qualify as a bit of a martial art nerd, and I have met plenty of people who are nerdy about it) but there is also just a whole culture of kung fu movie and martial arts appreciation that doesn't have the nerd feel to it

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I would still say the people I am talking about are not very nerdy. I get what you mean (I could probably qualify as a bit of a martial art nerd, and I have met plenty of people who are nerdy about it) but there is also just a whole culture of kung fu movie and martial arts appreciation that doesn't have the nerd feel to it

Oh, for sure. I don't think liking any given thing automatically makes one a nerd. People are more complex than that.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

From a specifically D&D view, I think Oriental Adventures' creation traces a direct line back to James Clavell's Shogun 1975 and the 1980 TV series adaptation. Six million copies sold, even before the TV show, and the TV show itself garnered the second highest Nielsen ratings to date.

I'm not a young man, so of course I'm a survivor of the Great Martial Arts Crazy of the 1970s and 80s. An era where the coolest kids had Chinese throwing stars and Todd, the 9th grader who smoked, had some nunchaku he was just waiting to bust out to take care of some fools if necessary. I think this craze was precipitated by the influx of motion pictures from both Japan and Hong Kong, China. Both countries had fairly robust film industries following the Second World War and were able to find audiences here in the United States. And let's face it, some of these movies were really cool. Have you ever seen The Five Deadly Venoms? It's awesome! Japan in particular had many cartoons that were easy to translate for American audiences. In the 1960s Japanese like Speed Racer, Astroboy, and Gigantor were fairly popular.

I remember being nine and taking Karate classes. It went well until the sensei had a class full of little kids start doing knuckle pushups...on bare concrete. That was it for me, though that experience thankfully didn't stop me from getting back into martial arts again a few years down the line.

 

[Jolly Ruby]

On another note: soft power.

 

[Bedrockgames]

From a specifically D&D view, I think Oriental Adventures' creation traces a direct line back to James Clavell's Shogun 1975 and the 1980 TV series adaptation. Six million copies sold, even before the TV show, and the TV show itself garnered the second highest Nielsen ratings to date.

I remember the shogun miniseries airing when I was a kid and watching it with my cousins. It really amped us up. But I also remember ninjas in general were big. Chuck Norris was big. There was still a lot of residual interest in the culture from the Kung Fu Craze. As a kid I heard about Bruce Lee on the playground and kids talked about him like a legend before I even saw one of his movies. When I finally saw him it was mind expanding because it was amazing to me that then human body could be trained to do what he was doing. And the man radiated charisma. Plus karate was everywhere (especially after the karate kid came out, but even before it, I remember them taking us to the Y for karate classes).

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I remember the shogun miniseries airing when I was a kid and watching it with my cousins. It really amped us up. But I also remember ninjas in general were big.

Yep. My brother and I had a trapper keeper filled with doodles of ninjas fighting.